The Most Powerful women Entrepreneurs in India; Indra Nooyi, Sonia Gandhi, Lalita Gupte & Kalpana Morparia, Vidya Manohar Chhabria, Anu Aga, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Simone Tata, Indu Jain, Priya Paul, Sulajja Firodia Motwani & Neelam Dhawan

The educated women do not want to limit their lives in the four walls of the house. They demand equal respect from their partners. However, Indian women have to go a long way to achieve equal rights and position because traditions are deep rooted in Indian society.

Despite all the social hurdles, many women have become successful in their works. Recently, Forbes, one of the famous international business magazines, has published a list of most powerful women in various fields such as, politics, business. Indian women were also included in the list. Here are the names:

Indra Nooyi- 4th position- Chief Executive—designate, Pepsi Co.

Indra Nooyi

This Madras born woman was a straight “A” student in her school. Nooyi did her bachelors from Madras Christian College and MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Nooyi then went to USA and attended Yale University. From Yale, she obtained degree on management. This brilliant corporate woman started her career in Boston Consulting Group and moved on to Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri. She joined Pepsi Co. in 1994. She turned the company into a bold risk taker. In 1998, Pepsi acquired Tropicana. In 1997, Pepsi started its own fast food chain. In 2001, she became President of Pepsi Cola. Wall Street Journal included her name in their top 50 women to watch in 2005. Fortune magazine declared her 11th most powerful women in business.

Sonia Gandhi-13th position—President, Congress Party

Sonia Gandhi

She was born in Italy and had a normal upbringing. In 1964, she went to Cambridge to study English and met Rajiv Gandhi. The two fell in love and got married in 1968. Sonia’s entrance into politics was accidental. In 1991, after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, she was approached by the Congress Party leaders but she refused. She finally joined politics in 1998 by taking over the charge of Congress Party. Her opponents tried to ruin her image by labeling her as a foreigner, but with her timely decision to give up the position of Prime minister to Dr. Manmohan Singh, after winning the general election of 2004, she outmatched her opponents.

Lalita Gupte & Kalpana Morparia—93rd position—Joint Managing Directors, ICICI Bank

Kalpana Morparia and Lalita Gupte are Joint Managing Directors of ICIC Bank, the second largest bank of India. Lalita Gupte holds a Master’s Degree in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. She joined ICIC Bank in 1971. Her reason behind success is her supportive family. She got great support from her husband and in laws.

Ms. Kalpana Morparia is a graduate in law from Mumbai University. She joined ICIC in 1975 as a senior legal officer. In 1996, she became General Manager. She became Executive Director in 2001. In 1999, for her contribution in Finance and Banking sector in India, Indian Merchants' Chamber awarded her.

Vidya Manohar Chhabria—95th position—Chairman, Jumbo Group

Vidya Manohar Chhabria

The wife of late Manohar Rajaram Chhabria, is now leading Jumbo Group, a Dubai based $1.5 billion business conglomerate. She became chairperson of the company after the death of her husband in 2002. She runs the business with the help of her three daughters. She was ranked 38th most powerful women by the Fortune magazine in 2003.

Anu Aga- Chairperson (former) Thermax Group

Anu Aga

Like Vidya Manohar Chabaria, this woman also became the Chairperson of Thermax Engineering after the death of her husband Rohinton Aga. The company’s condition was critical at that time. Its share price dipped to Rs. 36 from Rs. 400. Anu Aga, the then Director of Human Resource, Thermax, was compelled to take charge of the company. In order to make the company profitable, she brought a consultant from abroad and restructured the company. The strategy worked and the company saw profit again. She stepped down from the post of chairperson in 2004. Now, she spends most of her time in social activities. Bombay Management Association awarded her Management Woman Achiever of the Year Award 2002-2003.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw—Biocon

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

She is the first female master brewer and the richest woman in India. Her father was a master brewer and he encouraged her to get into this profession. Shaw obtained her Honors degree in Zoology from Bangalore University. Then she went to Ballarat University to study brewery. Her first job was in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974, as a trainee brewer. She started her firm Biocon India in 1978 in her garage. When she applied for loan to the banks, she was turned down. At that time, biotechnology was not known in India and she was a female and her company did not have much assets. With her hard work and determination she overcome all these obstacles and turned Biocon into the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in India.

Simone Tata—Managing Director (former) Lakme

Simone Tata

With her visions, she changed a small unknown cosmetics company, one of the subsidiaries of Tata Oil Mills, into one of the leading cosmetic companies of India. Lakme changed the face of Indian fashion and cosmetics forever. For her success, Simone N. Tata is also known as Cosmetic Czarina of India. Simone joined Lakme in 1961 and became Chairperson in 1982. The company is now sold to Hindustan Liver. Simone is now heading Trent Limited another subsidiary of the Tata Company.

Indu Jain- Chairperson (former) The Times Group

Indu Jain

Indu Jain has many identities: spiritualist, entrepreneur, humanist, educationalist, great lover of art and culture. She was the Chairman of the The Times Group, the biggest and the most powerful media house in India. The company was bought from a British group. Now, her two sons Samir and Vineet are running the company. Among the major products of the company, The Times of India, the largest selling English daily newspaper of the world. In 2000, Jain delivered speech at the Millenium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders.

Priya Paul—Apeejay Surrendra Group

Priya Paul finished her Bachelor’s in Economics from USA. She got into her family business at the age of 24 after her father Surrendra Paul was assassinated in 1990. Appeejay Surrendra Group has several subsidiaries such as, tea, hotel, shipping, retail, real estate and financial services. At present, Priya is the Chairperson of Appeejay Park Hotels.

Sulajja Firodia Motwani- Kinetic Motor

Sulajja Firodia Motwani

This beautiful woman is the Joint Managing Director of Kinetic, and the Managing Director of Kinetic Finance. Her grandfather founded this company. He was a very well known figure in the Indian auto industry. Sulajja did her MBA in America. Later, she worked in Barra International, a California based investment consultancy firm, for four years and then returned to India and joined her family business. She travels a lot around India and likes to deal face to face with people. This is how she tries to understand the market in her country.

Neelam Dhawan—Managing Director, Microsoft India

Neelam Dhawan

She has become a pioneering figure in the IT industry of India. Neelam Dhawan has been working in the Indian IT field for the last twenty two years. She is the new Managing Director of Microsoft India. Before coming to Microsoft, she worked in all the top IT companies in India such as HP, IBM and HCL.